Your twin flame relationship is really what most people refer to as their “soulmate” relationship. However, you can have many soulmates in the course of your lifetime, but only one twin flame. Your twin flame is your soul mirror. They share your “core soul frequency.” That means that though your relationship is indeed blissful, it can also be difficult. No relationship brings you into a clearer awareness of yourself than this one.

That’s why there’s also false twin flame relationships. This is what happens when we find someone who we think is our perfect match, but really exists to help us identify and then clear karma and patterning so that we can be ready for the real thing. Here is how to tell the difference between the two.

1. Your twin flame and your false twin flame(s) will be very similar in a lot of ways.

In fact, when you are with your real twin flame, you will look back and realize that you identified a lot of their traits and characteristics in your former partner. You were perhaps temporarily confusing one person for another.

2. A false twin brings up issues of the past.

When you’re clearing karma with a soulmate, you will find that the issues arising largely have to do with past mistakes, anxieties, fears or concerns. With your twin flame, your issues will be more about what’s going to happen, and how to fulfill your complete purpose while alive.

3. A false twin will teach you how to help yourself. A true twin will teach you how to help others.

False twins come into our lives when we need to become self-aware and create change for ourselves. True twins come when it’s time for us to extend our powers out, and start creating change in the lives of those around us.

4. A false twin’s commitment will fade when challenges arise. A true twin’s will strengthen.

Something that ultimately separates the false flames from the true ones is that the false ones, well, fade. When you challenge one another and have disagreements, their true commitment will be revealed. Ultimately, they (or you) will walk away because it is “too hard.” A true flame will be willing to endure anything to be with you.

5. A false twin will make you anxious and jittery, a true twin will feel like family, like home.

There will be a certain degree of comfort with your true twin that isn’t present with a false one. They will feel like your best friend, as though you are finally coming back home after all this time.

6. Your relationship with a false twin will always be in limbo. Your relationship with a true twin will be clear, even if it’s not always easy.

The twin flame relationship is almost always characterized by a sort of back-and-forth, breaking up and then reuniting later. However, with a false twin, those breaks will be longer and more severe, and when you reunite, it will only be for a short period of time, and won’t end well.

One of the biggest signs of a false twin flame is an ongoing and intense uncertainty. Though so many aspects of your relationship will seem like everything you’ve always looked for, there will be something in your mind and heart that questions whether or not this is really it. That won’t happen with your true twin – at least, not as much.

8. Your false twin will come to you at a time in your life when you need to be awakened. Your true twin will come when you need to ascend.

Though the two terms can be used interchangeably at times, being awakened is beginning to recognize your inner power, and ascending is beginning to actually use it to create.

9. A false twin will require you to hold on firmly or wonder about whether or not you’re “meant to be.” A true twin will make their intentions clear and immediate.

A false twin will always seem to be just a little out of reach, and you’ll have to hold on just a little too tight to keep things going. With a true twin, the relationship is natural and effortless.

10. A false twin will give you false hope. You’ll be surprised to find that they move onto other relationships quickly, or treat others as they treated you. A true twin flame relationship will be unprecedented.

You’ll be heartbroken to discover that your false twin seems to have these magical connections with, well, people who aren’t you. It will be clear that your true twin has never had a relationship even close to what you have together, and they’ll be cognizant of that fact, too.

11. A false twin will be threatened by your success, a true twin will be inspired by it.

False twin flames are, of course, very similar to you, and you will probably be drawn to each other because you are so much alike. However, when you start to see success, a false twin will make you feel guilty for it, or think they are “losing” something. A true twin won’t only be completely thrilled for you, they’ll be playing an integral part of what’s helping you succeed.

12. A false twin shows you what you need to change to survive, while a true twin shows you what you need to do to thrive.

A false twin flame will be the very beginning of your awakening process. They’ll reveal to you old wounds, patterns and habits that are really holding you back. Your true twin flame will not so much show you your leftover pain as they will help you see what it would take to live a completely aligned and abundant life.

13. A false twin inspires you to awaken alone, while a true twin relationship makes you do it together.

One crucial difference between the two is that the false twin relationship tends to only awaken one of the partners. The true twin relationship awakens both, at the same time.

14. You and your true twin will have a similar if not an eerily exact vision for your lives.

Your false twin will always seem to be slightly on a different page than you. You don’t have the same long-term vision, or at least, you can’t seem to happily compromise for the other.

15. You will wonder why your false twin flame relationship is “happening to you.” You will be certain of the purpose of your true twin flame relationship.

With your false twin flame, you’ll wonder why you’re experiencing so much pain and discord. With your true twin flame, you’ll understand that sometimes, discomfort is crucial to growth, but that ultimately, you are working on yourself in order to be better for your relationship, the people around you, and of course, yourself.

16. Your false twin will use excuses like “timing” and “wanting to be young and free” to avoid being more committed to you.

Your true twin relationship will happen in spite of anything that could stand in the way. There is no barrier, no time constraint, no plan or preference that would make a true flame not be in a relationship with you… and that, in the end, is how you really know the difference.